With an increase in the packing density of LSIs, the required linewidths of circuits included in semiconductor devices become finer year by year. To form a desired circuit pattern on a semiconductor device, a method is employed in which a high-precision original pattern formed on quartz (i.e., a mask, or also particularly called reticle, which is used in a stepper or a scanner) is transferred to a wafer in a reduced manner by using a reduced-projection exposure apparatus. The high-precision original pattern is written by using an electron-beam writing apparatus, in which a so-called electron-beam lithography technique is employed.
In an electron beam writing apparatus, pattern-writing positional errors result from physical phenomena, such as substrate flexure, charging of resist applied to a substrate, and distortion in shape of an electron-beam deflection field. For this reason, correction coefficients for correcting the positional errors resulting from the physical phenomena are calculated and input to the writing apparatus.
In traditional writing position correction, for example, a correction coefficient for distortion in shape of an electron-beam deflection field is obtained in a state where physical phenomena, such as substrate flexure and resist charging, have occurred. In other words, the correction coefficient is determined such that the coefficient is affected by the physical phenomena other than the physical phenomenon associated with a positional error to be corrected. Disadvantageously, there is a limit to improvement in writing positional accuracy.